This invention relates to telecommunication networks, and in particular to wireline and wireless telecommunication that maintain profiles on subscribers.
As the demand for more sophisticated telecommunications services has increased, there has been an evolution of new networking architectures designed to meet this demand. A particular architecture which has evolved to meet customer demand for enhanced services is the Intelligent Network (IN) which enables such services to be rapidly and cost effectively introduced.
Many of the enhanced telephony services such as customized ringing, reverse charging, abbreviated dialing, etc. that customers have become accustomed to in the last few years have become available on a wide-scale basis due to the Intelligent Network. The Intelligent Network is an infrastructure standardized globally by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and regionally by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) which is being put in place and used by exchange carriers to deploy new services quickly and cost effectively. The IN infrastructure simplifies the design and implementation of new telecommunication services by defining a set of network elements, messages and call models. This allows for many services to be constructed using these standard building blocks and deployed quickly and cost effectively to end users. The principles of the intelligent network architecture are described in the ITU Recommendation I.312/Q.1201, xe2x80x9cPrinciples of Intelligent Network Architecturexe2x80x9d which is hereby incorporated by reference. Other specifications in the Q.1200-series of Recommendations provide additional technical details.
Intelligent network services are categorized into two groups, (i) those that are single-ended and requiring single point-of-control (i.e. xe2x80x9ctype Axe2x80x9d services), and (ii) those that are multiple-ended and requiring multiple-point-of-control (i.e. xe2x80x9ctype Bxe2x80x9d services). Type A services apply to only one party in a call (single-ended). Every call associated with a type A service is influenced by only one service logic program (single point-of-control) at any one point in time (although several service logic programs may influence the call in a non-overlapping series.) Type A services are also implicitly single medium services. To date, type A services do not involve interactions between network databases associated with more than one party in a call in an IN network.
By contrast, type B services allow for services that affect multiple parties in a single call. Multiple points of control is the ability for multiple service logic instances to interact with a single call segment, and hence type B services may require interactions between network databases. Type B services include multimedia calls. While type A services have been deployed for many years, type B services, on the other hand, have not been fully deployed into Intelligent Networks around the world in part due to their complex nature. A description of type B services is included in ITU-T Recommendations Q.1211 xe2x80x9cIntroduction to Intelligent Network Capability Set 1xe2x80x9d and Q.1221 xe2x80x9cIntroduction to Intelligent Network Capability Set 2.xe2x80x9d Type B services may be enhanced by Type A services, that is, the two categories of services are not mutually exclusive.
For wireline networks, subscriber data (or xe2x80x9cprofilesxe2x80x9d) may be stored at the local switch level, or stored in a centralized database, which is accessible to all other switching nodes. For wireless (mobile) networks, mobile subscriber profiles are invariably stored in a centralized database, since it is necessary to access a subscriber""s profile from a potentially very large serving area involving multiple cooperating operators. This profile access is an essential and integral feature of wireless networks, and is becoming a key aspect of fixed networks as fixed and mobile networks are integrated. When new data is added to this centralized database, it then automatically becomes available throughout the whole network. The key aspect is access to the data.
Subscriber profiles can be constructed to contain a broad range of information for the purpose of service enhancement. For example, a subscriber profile can contain a subscriber""s name, address, language preference, time-of-day restrictions, etc. There are several type A services, such as calling name delivery, calling number delivery, and incoming call screening that have been designed to use subscriber profile information. However, an inherent limitation of type A services is the lack of network database interaction, during an active call, which restricts subscriber profiles at both ends of a call from interacting with each other to enhance the service to either subscriber. As such, when a call is made from one call party to another, consideration of the profile of the other call party is not supported or considered. This lack of consideration results in services which are focused exclusively on the subscribing party""s profile without consideration for the other party""s profile. As for type B services which allow for network database interaction, the complexity of implementing such services makes any necessary interactions between subscriber profiles difficult except in carefully constrained circumstances.
As set out above, the Intelligent Network forms the foundation for further subscriber services deployment and enhancement. The present invention enables a new range of services and features through an extension of service logic functionality to include the support of interaction of subscriber profiles and sharing of data contained in these profiles to assist service logic processing in making better informed and hence more intelligent decisions on the service provided.
Intelligent Network architecture is characterized by the use of software configured triggers in a standardized call model. These triggers facilitate the execution of a certain event-based service on a logically (and sometimes physically) separate platform upon receipt of a predefined stimulus (e.g. the receipt of certain dialed digits). The event is considered on behalf of the subscriber for whom the service was designed. The repository for individual subscriber input/stimulus interactions is contained in the subscriber profile stored in a functional entity called Service Control Function (SCF). The SCF may be physically implemented in the (i) local switch or Service Control point (SCP) (in the case of a wireline network), or (ii) Home Location Register (HLR) or SCP (in the case of a wireless network).
The present invention relates to the extension of the above-described capability by also considering data residing in the profile of those parties with whom the subscriber interacts. If the called subscriber has a profile to support an IN based incoming call service, the present invention would enable the use of relevant data in the calling subscriber""s profile, thus making possible an enhanced service tailored to both the called and calling parties. To reduce complexity, all IN services offered in accordance with the present invention are type A services, and are thus single-ended, single point-of-control. However, this invention may be applied to Type B services as enhanced by Type A services which, in turn, are enhanced by this invention.
The present invention can be implemented in a telecommunications network in a number of ways. The preferred alternative is to take advantage of the IN infrastructure to store all necessary subscriber profiles within network databases. Though another alternative would be to provide the necessary services at the switch level, this alternative does not yield the same efficiencies.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention a method of providing a single-ended, single point-of-control service in an Intelligent Network comprises: (i) initiating a call from a calling party to a called party through a switch; (ii) suspending the call at the switch while the switch queries a first database which stores a profile of one of the calling party and the called party; (iii) the first database querying a second database which stores a profile of the other of the calling party and the called party; (iv) returning a response from the second database to the first database; and (v) proceeding with the call in accordance with the response.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention a method is provided for an incoming call screening service in a telecommunications network which comprises: (i) a calling party initiating a call to a called party through a switch; (ii) suspending the call at the switch while the switch queries a Service Control Function (e.g. SCP) which stores a profile of the called party; (iii) the Service Control Function which stores a profile of the called party querying a database which stores a profile of the calling party, the profile of the calling party containing the preferred language of the calling party; (iv) returning the profile of the calling party to the Service Control Function which stores a profile of the called party; and (v) transmitting an announcement to the calling party in the preferred language of the calling party.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention a method is provided for a call delivery service in a telecommunications network which comprises: (i) a calling party initiating a call to a called party through a switch; (ii) suspending the call at the switch while the switch queries a Service Control Function which stores a profile of the calling party; (iii) the Service Control Function which stores a profile of the calling party querying a database which stores a profile of the called party, the profile of the called party containing the time zone where the called party is located; (iv) returning the profile of the called party to the service control point which stores a profile of the calling party; and (v) the Service Control Function which stores a profile of the calling party allowing or disallowing the call to proceed depending on the time zone where the called party is located.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention a method is provided a computer program product for programming a network element in an Intelligent Network to offer a single-ended, single point-of-control service, the computer program product having a medium with a computer program embodied thereon, the computer program comprising computer program code for: (i) suspending a call from a calling party to a called party at a switch while the switch queries a first database which stores a profile of one of the calling party and the called party; (ii) the first database querying a second database which stores a profile of the other of the calling party and the called party; (iii) returning a response from the second database to the first database; and (iv) proceeding with the call in accordance with the response.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a telecommunication network comprising a switch, the switch connected to a first database storing the profile of one of a calling party and a called party, and the first database connected to a second database storing the profile of the other of a calling party and a called party, wherein upon the initiation of a call from a calling party to a called party, through the switch, the switch suspends the call while the switch queries the first database, the first database queries the second database, and the second database returns a response to the first database, the switch then proceeding with the call in accordance with the response.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.